More and more I've been wondering about how much Ross' style of ownership is impacting the fortunes of this franchise. It's always tricky to talk about owners, because so much of their involvement is unknown. Clearly Ross decides if Ireland stays or goes. Ross also called some of the shots on trying to woo Harbaugh, whom we face this weekend. So what makes a winning franchise, what part does the owner play in it, and is Ross up to the task? Maybe this will help clarify. It's an excerpt from a New Your Times article about how the Maras, Tischs and Krafts are all very close, and all share the same philosophies on ownership and how to run an NFL franchise. You may have noticed that their teams, the Giants and the Patriots, are pretty great franchises. Full Article Here - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/s...es-linked-by-philosophies.html?pagewanted=all What's interesting is, I think Ross is one of those guys who is influenced by the outside. That said, I think he is trying very hard to create that sense of internal stability by retaining Jeff Ireland. Is it the right person to create stability with? Who knows. More and more I am curious about ROss' style of ownership and I question if he can really create a championship caliber organization from the top down. I'll say this, what the Maras, Tisches and Krafts have done works. Ross would be wise to model after it. If anything, what Ross lacks most is a strong foundation in football background. He was not raised with it and around it as a family business. NOr does he have a great mentor (unless you consider Carl Peterson a great football mentor). Time will tell.
..I'll say this, he went after the best coaching prospect I've ever known, and he did'nt give a fu&$ who knew, and why wouldnt he do that, the supposed hall of famer Parcells was fu&$ing him on millions and weasling a way out, and, he fired a coach midseason, whom he did not hire, who looks to be completely overwhelmed in the X's and O's dept on the NFL level, thus saving us wasted time spent with a coach destined for failure..
Well, thought it odd when Marshall was traded that Ross said he was probably going to be waived if he was not traded. That seems really strange to me. Overall Ross has been fine, the problem is to many FA's come here and they are not the same player coupled with guys who just refuse to make even the simplest of impact plays.
I personally prefer my owner not to have a background in football. The more they know about football... the more they get involved in football decisions. And I just want my owner to sit back and sign checks... I have no problem with Ross. He's not tight with his money, I think he cares about being competitive... and most importantly, I think he cares about the fans, and the fan experience.
I think it's more important that the owner have a strong feel for when to challenge their GM (have him justify himself) and when to simply trust and support him despite appearances giving cause for doubt. That's the main thing I got from the Maras Krafts and Tisches. Their approach has won, what, four or five if the past 11 Superbowls. And I don't see Ross having any feel for this at all. His relationship with Jeff Ireland seems to be that he believes whatever Jeff tells him. But again, I am guessing and have no hard evidence of that.
And, by the way, I think a good owner cares more about what the team needs for LONG term success, than about moves that please fans in the short term. I think Ross falls into the latter trap (the whole flashy offense thing, which may have led to the tipping point in renting Brandon Marshall rather than developing our own version Victor Cruz with the player we could have drafted with the pick).
Ross is a new owner. He thought he could run a NFL team like any business and learned quickly that he can't. In football, unlike the real world, everything he does is judged and known. Then again, how is he supposed to know that trying to bring entertainment to entertainment would be looked on as a bad thing. We will see if he learns. If Snyder can learn Ross can learn. However Jones hasn't, so there is that.
I don't have any hard evidence either, but my guess would be different. My recollection is that it was reported that he did challenge Ireland and essentially made Ireland justify why he should be retained. I don't have a link at the tip of my fingers, but I recall hearing about how Ireland had to explain which picks and decisions were his and which were Parcells (or more Parcells), etc. Ireland apparently convinced him that he should stay. I don't have any big problem with Ross.
Huh? This past offseason of no flashy FAs, trading away the team's flashiest and biggest-name player and drafting a rookie QB seems to me to have been very much about long term success. I don't see how it can be characterized as being full of moves that please fans in the short term at all. In fact, I don't think there was even a single move this offseason that could be characterized as such. The Brandon Marshall acquisition was absolutely defensible as a pure football move. He's a good player and still relatively young. I don't see how that should be characterized as a short-term move at the time. I am 99.999999999% sure that when they traded for Marshall they intended for it to be a long-term relationship and not one that would last only 2 years. Victor Cruz' are hard to find. Most 2nd round WRs kinda suck. Since 2002, there have been 50 WRs drafted in the 2nd round. Of those 50, only 7 have averaged more than 600 yards receiving per season.
Ross has definitely learned from his mistakes from a PR standpoint. Gator Day, the Orange Carpet, etc. So, it's not like the guy is completely lacking in self-awareness. I do like that he refuses to let the games be blacked out. Not every owner would do that (Ahem, Spanos, Glazer) Now he just needs to surround himself with better football people.
I give him credit for going after Harbugh and also wanting to sign Manning. The problem is that he wasn't able to close the deal on either one of these individuals. In fact he couldn't close the deal on hiring Fisher either. It appears that many of the big names out there have no desire to come and work with him. What ever the reason these type individuals don't want to be here, Ross needs to figure out the problem and fix it . If the Problem is Ireland, Ross needs to get rid of him.
I agree Fineas...seems to me that Ross has a reputation of being a meddling owner with the fans, but in actuality, it appears he is just the opposite, at least from the football end of the operation...The bottom line is that fans don't see Ireland as a permanent fixture and Ross seems to see him as that...Is that good or bad for the franchise, only time will tell...
Don't see how a guy who pays the bills, reaches out to fans, doesn't mind spending money and plans to keep the Miami Dolphins in Miami despite whiny fans not even coming out to the games is a hinderance to anything. We may not be winning...but on the list of things to be pissed off about....Ross aint one of them. In fact....Joe Q. Fan comes before Ross on the list of things that chap my arse TBH.
Can you back up your Jerry Jones criticism? In his tenure as owner, the Cowboys have won 3 super bowls, been to the playoffs 12 times (50%), have an overall record of 204-176 (regular season), and only finished below .500 in 9 of 24 years. Not to mention, he secured a state of the art, world-class stadium in a recession, and simply put: his team has fielded a competitive team year-in and year-out for longer than I've been alive (aside from his inaugural 1-15 1989 season). He loves Texas and he loves his Cowboys. Sure, he says stupid things all of the time, but hanging out on ThePHINS, you know that EVERYONE does. I'd trade Ross for Jones if I could.
He fired Jimmy Johnson because he didn't want to share the credit. He rode out good drafts by Jimmy Johnson to get the third super bowl. He then got Parcells to run the team, who did build a pretty decent team, however then he completely took over as GM. Ever since then the Cowboys have gotten worse and worse. Also people make fun of Al Davis and he is one of the best owners of all time. It is what have you done for me lately and I wouldn't trade Jones for Ross at this moment.
Well, unless the team is passed down within a family... how many billionaires are also football people? I'd guess that they are few and far between. At which case, I think wishing we had a different owner is pointless b/c I doubt whoever would buy the team would be a football person. Plus, again if you do get a football person, you risk him being Jerry Jones like b/c he feels he does know football, and wants to be hands on with his billion dollar toy. I also don't think Ross is just blindly letting Ireland run it. I'm sure he's had to justify himself. Ross isn't oblivious to the public criticism...
I think that the criticisms for Al were more warranted than those towards Jones, because while both had peaked long ago, Al's team decayed far worse than Jerry's, to the point of being a disrespected laughingstock. I think that the difference between the two is that Al was too involved with no consultation. I find it hard to believe that Jerry would be the guy calling all of the shots today, or at least, without the advice of his front office...if he is, I give him a hell of a lot of credit for knowing quite a bit of football. They've been drafting very well lately. With that said, it's indisputable that the Cowboys today are not the Cowboys of the 90's, but they're still a fine, competitive product; an annual threat to win the NFCE. I see what you're saying, but still, I think he's a great owner for one reason above all else: he will do absolutely whatever it takes to bring the Lombardi trophy to Texas, and I have faith that the Cowboys will win the NFC at least once more before he's done. I just don't think Ross is "into it" as Jerry. I don't think he'd do whatever it takes and go all in for Miami. He's not going anywhere, though, so all I can hope for is that he proves me wrong.
The what, is that the Dolphins will continue to remain mediocre, attendance and TV viewership of Dolphin games in South Florida will continue to decline. Ross lives in New York, not South Florida. I sometimes wonder if he really cares if the Dolphins are a success or not. The fact is that he is going to make millions of dollars each season, whether the Dolphins are winners or not. I wish he would sell the team to an owner who actually lives in South Florida and someone who wants to build a winning organization once again.
I highly disagree. Jones is Davis in the making without a football background. Any owner who is also a GM is problematic. Al's team decay wasn't far worse. Al built one of the greatest teams for 2 decades and then went to the superbowl in another. Jones is going to have to work very hard to have half the career that Al Davis had.
It may not be easy to sell anyone on the culture of dolphin football.. I think Harbaugh wanted to be a part of a rabid football culture and energy.. The point is he went after them and fired some others..He buys out 10s of thousands of tickets to help the community, he's naive when it comes to his building, but his character is not in question to me..I think his intentions are good, and he's willing to spend.. Just remember what the guy inherited..
This may be correct, but we just don't have enough info to proclaim it.. I thought he lived or has a home here?
That doesn't emotionally tie him to the area or make him more relatable to the people... How many places does Mitt Romney have homes?
Fans aren't whiny when they have had exactly one winning season in the last 6. (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, & I am assuming this year too) The fans have only stopped coming the last 3 years. In 2009 we had 61,000 season tickets, good enough to be 4th highest in the league that year. It's time whiny people on this board (many of which don't live here now, or ever) get over themselves and stop blaming fans for not paying over $ 100 a game (ticket + parking + drink is over $ 100 per person) to watch less than mediocre football, and mediocre football that is actually B O R I N G with one of the worst offenses in the last decade. Much of the rest of the NFL are into scoring which our team acts like its an old whore on a Sunday morning trying to pull tricks at a Baptist church. We don't get any ! The attendance is what it is because of the better part of a decade of losing. That happens to franchises when they have losing seasons, for more than 2 in a row. Just look at Kansas City, their 20,000 person waiting list for season tickets has turned into 15,000 empty seats at last weeks game. Dolphins fans were extremely loyal for many years with not much reward. Last Championship was 40 years ago. Last Super Bowl was 27 years ago. Give the fans a break, they aren't to blame in the least. For the present state of affairs the only ones to blame are the Dolphins, the ownership made bad decision after bad decision. That the fans had nothing to do with.
Jimmy Johnson wasn't fired by Jones. They agreed that he step down in a mutual agreement. Neither was happy and Johnson agreed to a settlement of the remainder of his contract. But he wasn't fired.
Well I think he is very insulated against it. 1st Ross doesn't live in South Florida, but jets in on gamedays and leaves that night (if he even comes to the game - he's only been at 3 home games this year). So I am not sure how much he knows about what the fans think and feel.
What he inherited was a team which went 11-5 and made the playoffs the year before he became the primary owner of the Dolphins. What he has accomplished as the owner is a team which is 25-35 over the last three plus years of his ownership and is headed toward it's fourth losing season in a row. Personally I have no idea why he buys tickets so the games can be shown on locale TV. The fact is that the Dolphins have the lowest TV ratings of any team in the NFL. So him purchasing these tickets isn't helping the popularity of his football team in South Florida. I would rather have the games blacked out in South Florida and have a winning team than have the games shown on locale TV and the team continuing to be merely mediocre. I think he needs to hire someone with a great deal of football knowledge to come in and run the football operations. He should allow this individual to hire and fire the GM and the head coach. Parcells didn't work out in this position but there are other individual in the front offices of teams in the NFL who could be hired to come in and run the football side of the organization. Because it is obvious that Ross and Ireland really don't have a clue as to how to build a winning team at this time.
Most individuals of wealth have multiple homes. The fact is that Ross's primary residence and his place of business is located in New York. He spends the vast majority of his time in New York and merely takes his private jet to South Florida during the weeks the Dolphins have home games. He flies back to New York right after most games. If he actually lived in South Florida, perhaps he would be more cognizant of how upset many fans are with the direction the team has taken under his ownership. Of course, all the empty seats and the terrible TV ratings, should really be all he needs to look at to understand how far the team has dropped in fan appeal in South Florida.
he inherited bill Parcells on his way out, Tony sparano, chad Pennington on his way out, and chad Henne on his way in. I have no idea if buying the tickets is hurting or helping the big picture. We might be lucky he bought the team and building..I sure as hell wouldn't of.
Actually he was a minority owner of the Dolphins when Parcells was hired. So as a minority owner, he knew exactly what he was getting when he purchased majority ownership of the Dolphins. Ross is worth over a billion dollars. If he didn't like the fact Parcells was with the Dolphins and Sparano was the coach. He could have paid them off and hired his own people immediately. Also Ross was a big fan of Henne because they both graduated from the Universiity of Michigan. So when he purchased the Dolphins, he was keenly aware of who they projected as the long term QB, and that Parcells, Ireland. and Sparano were running the football team. The fact is that he didn't inherit the team. He actually paid over a billion dollars for the team and stadium and he knew exactly what he was buying and who the individuals were running the team. If in fact you inherit something, you take the good with the bad. If you pay a billion dollars for something, you have no excuses if you are not satisfied with the people the previous owner left behind. If you don't like the job they are doing, you fire them when you take over ownership. No one but Ross himself, allowed Parcell to remain with the team for another year and a half after he purchased the team. Ross also kept Sparano and when he couldn't hire Harbaugh to replace him. Ross actually signed Sparano to a new three year contract, instead of just letting Sparano coach the final year of his contract in 2011. How dumb was that? Especially when he ended up firing Sparano during the 2011 season and then had to pay him for the two remaining years on his contract. No one forced Ross to purchase the Dolphins. He decided on his own to buy the team. He has no excuses for his failures as an owner and if he wants fans to support his team, it is up to him to fix the problems with it. If that means hiring someone else to take over as head of football operations, so be it. Because what he has done in his three plus years as majority owner isn't working.
